Surcharge Due: An additional fee that may be required due to late or insufficient payment of fees.
Read More
Supplemental Examination: A mechanism whereby the patent owner can request that the USPTO consider, reconsider, or correct information believed to be relevant to the patent.
Read More
Suggestive Mark: A mark that, when applied to the goods or services at issue, requires imagination, thought, or perception to reach a conclusion as to the nature of those goods or services.
Read More
Substitute Statement: A statement made by an applicant for patent in lieu of an oath or declaration if the inventor is deceased, under a legal incapacity, has refused to execute the oath or declaration, or cannot be found or reached after diligent effort.
Read More
Substantive Reasons for Refusal: There are several substantive reasons for refusing registration of a mark, including for example: likelihood of confusion; primarily merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of the goods/services; primarily geographically descriptive or primarily geographically deceptively; misdescriptive of the goods/services; primarily merely a surname; or mere ornamentation.
Read More
Subsequent Designation: A request by the holder of an international trademark registration for an extension of protection of the registration to additional Contracting Parties.
Read More
Statutory Invention Registrations (SIRs): A mechanism for disclosing and protecting inventions that do not qualify for patents due to being already known or obvious.
Read More
Statement of Net Cost: Compares fees earned to costs incurred during a specific period of time. It is not necessarily an indicator of net income or net cost over the life of a patent or trademark.
Read More
Statement of Grant of Protection: A notification communicated in an international design application under the Hague Agreement by the office of a designated Contracting Party to the International Bureau indicating that protection is granted in the Contracting Party concerned to all or some of the industrial designs that are the subject of international registration.
Read More
SSP: Shortened Statutory Period is a time period which an examiner may set (generally two months) during which an applicant must supply the omission to the previous reply to avoid abandonment. This is typically invoked when a bona fide attempt to reply to an office action includes an inadvertent omission that precludes action on the merits of the application.
Read More
SRM Service Reference Model: (also known as a Service Component Reference Model) a business and performance-driven, functional framework that classifies Service Components with respect to how they support business and/or performance objectives; structured across horizontal and vertical service domains that, independent of the business functions, can provide a leverage-able foundation to support the reuse of applications, application capabilities, components, and business services.
Read More
Sponsored Research: Research funded by an external entity for a specific purpose.
Read More
Special Form Drawing: Depiction of the trademark you want to register if it includes stylized text (such as text in a particular font style or color), or a design element (such as an image or logo, with or without color).
Read More
SMART Standards, Mentor, Attempt, Review, Transition: An informal development program used for USPTO's OCIO employees that identifies standards to work towards and establishes a mentoring relationship between managers and their employees who must meet these standards.
Read More
Small Business Concern: For purposes of small entity determination per MPEP 509.02 - any business concerned meeting the size standards set forth in 13 CFR Part 121 to be eligible for reduced patent fees.
Read More
SITP: Strategic Information Technology Plan.
Read More
SIRA: Search and Information Resources Administration, an organizational unit of the Patent business area.
Read More
SIR: Statutory Invention Registration is a published statutory invention registration contains the specification and drawings of a regularly filed non-provisional application for a patent without examination if the applicant: (1) meets the requirements of section 112 of this title; (2) has complied with the requirements for printing, as set forth in regulations of the Commissioner; (3) waives the right to receive a patent on the invention within such period as may be prescribed by the Commissioner; and (4) pays application, publication, and other processing fees established by the Commissioner.
Read More
SIPO: State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China.
Read More
Single-Party Patent Infringement: The act of using or selling a patented invention without permission from the patent owner.
Read More